


A Balancing Act

by ChibiYoda



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bruce Feels, Hospital, Humor, M/M, Science Boyfriends, Science Bros, This Is My Ship and It Has Wrecked Me, a touch of angst, sick kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-19
Updated: 2015-06-19
Packaged: 2018-04-02 09:16:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4054639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChibiYoda/pseuds/ChibiYoda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce feels a little left out when it comes to team activities. This time he has a way to contribute.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Balancing Act

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sure it'll be very apparent who the inspiration for this came from.

Bruce and Tony were relaxing in the living room, each sunk deep into the sofa, when they noticed Steve approaching.

Tony called out “Hey Cap, what’s shakin’?”

“Am I interrupting anything?” Steve came to a stop a few feet from them.

“Of course not.” Bruce started. “We were just watching the news.”

Steve nodded and turned toward Tony. “I wanted to remind you about the Avengers appearance at the Children’s Hospital next Wednesday.”

“Got it.” Tony gave him the thumbs up.

“I already talked to Natasha, and she’s going to remind Clint. We’ll leave from here at 9 AM.”

“Heard.” Tony reiterated.

Bruce squirmed in his seat. Something had been on his mind for a while, so he decided that now was the time to broach the inquiry. “Um, Steve?”

The captain looked Bruce’s way. “Hmm?”

“I’d like to go along, too. If that’s okay.”

Steve was a little taken back by the request. Bruce had never expressed an interest in this sort of thing before. “Well, sure Bruce. If you want to. You’re part of the team after all. I just didn’t think… I mean you’re not gonna go as…” He wasn’t exactly sure how to phrase it.

Bruce took pity on him. “Oh, no, of course not. I’ve come a long way with him, but I wouldn’t trust him in that type of environment just yet.”

Both Steve and Tony quietly exhaled a tentative breath.

Bruce continued. “But I have something I think might help entertain the children a little.”

Steve glanced at Tony, who shrugged his shoulders. This was as much news to him as it was to Steve.

“Could you tell us what it is?” Steve knew in his heart that Bruce would never put anyone in danger, especially children. But he was the team leader and he didn’t really care for surprises.

This time it was Bruce who gave Tony the eye. “I’d rather not.”

Playfully offended, Tony scoffed. “What? I’m not gonna say anything!”

“You’ll tease me about it.” Bruce said flatly.

“Says who?”

“Says anyone who knows you.” Bruce punctuated the comment with a wry smile.

Tony conceded. “Whatever. Go ahead have your little secret.”

Steve interjected. “I’m sure whatever you have in mind will be just fine. Make sure Tony is ready at nine on Wednesday then, okay?”

As Steve departed, Bruce turned back to Tony. He could see the gears spinning in the engineer's head. “I’m not going to tell you, so you may as well give up trying to figure it out.”

 

But a feeble warning would not deter Tony in the least.

 

Later that day in the lab, Bruce was peering into a microscope when Tony casually asked, “Is it a magic trick?”

Barely breaking his concentration Bruce replied, “No Tony.”

 

The next afternoon Tony was assaulting a heavy bag in the gym, while Bruce was having an archery lesson from Clint. Just as he was about to let the arrow fly, Bruce heard Tony’s voice from across the room.

“Interpretive dance?”

At least the arrow didn’t stray far from the target. “No Tony.”

 

The following morning while Bruce was out on the patio enjoying a quiet meditative state…

“A puppet show?”

He didn’t bother opening his eyes. “No Tony.”

 

2 AM. Bruce is just about to drift off to sleep…

“You play the accordion while a little monkey in a hat dances. Please tell me there’s a monkey.”

Bruce rolled his head to the side, stared blankly at Tony for a moment, and then completely rolled over in the opposite direction. “Good night Tony.”

 

***

 

On the morning of their scheduled appearance Bruce ushered Natasha into the kitchen, away from the others.

“So when all of you have finished, send me a text, and I’ll start making my way there.”

As Nat nodded in response, Tony wandered into the room.

“Keeping secrets from me again? I thought our relationship with stronger than that.”

“All will be revealed soon, dear.” Bruce chided. He then noted the time. “Well I’m gonna get going. See you guys there.”

Bruce began to take his leave, but Tony was confused. “Wait, you’re not coming with us? What gives?”

“I have to make a stop on the way.”

Tony raised an eyebrow. “This just keeps getting better.”

Bruce could see the anticipation building in Tony. “Please don’t get your hopes up. I’m sure what I’ll deliver will pale in comparison to what you’re imagining.”

“You haven’t disappointed me yet. I don’t think you ever could.” Judging by Bruce’s smile Tony assumed he took the compliment seriously, but you never know with Bruce. “I mean it. Now go, hustle. I wanna make sure we have ample time for your display.”

Bruce threw out a hand. “You’re the one who’s holding me up! Okay, I’m outta here. See you guys over there.” With that, Bruce was finally on his way.

“He seems a little, I dunno, excited maybe?” Tony wasn’t purposely pressing Natasha for info.

“He’s been looking forward to it. You know he has a soft spot for kids.” Nat checked her pocket to make sure she did indeed have her phone with her. “And I think he just wants to show that he has abilities to offer the team aside from his counterpart.”

That last tidbit exasperated Tony. “But I tell him that he’s a valuable part of the team all of the time. Him. Bruce. Not just Hulk.”

“I think he does know that he contributes. But his efforts have more of a behind-the-scenes quality. They take place during downtime, or after a completed mission. He’s acting on his own then. Or maybe in conjunction with you. I think he’s looking for ways to be involved when the team is in motion. An event like this gives him that opportunity.”

Tony shook his head slowly. “And he told you all of this?” Tony wasn’t exactly jealous that Bruce may have confided in someone else. After all, the guy needed all the friends he could get. Tony isn’t so keen on sharing his favorite things. But whatever is best for Bruce trumps his silly ego, he supposed.

“Not in so many words. Bruce is making progress, but he’s not exactly chatty yet.” (Tony felt a little better at that.) “Yet I think I got a pretty good read on him from what he did share.”

Tony’s investigatory efforts were stalled as Steve called into the kitchen, “You guys about ready? We should head out now.”

 

There was an expansive atrium on the second floor of the hospital. It allowed plenty of room for the gathering. About 30 children were present, accompanied by either a parent or someone from the hospital staff. It was planned that after the presentation the team would take a tour, and visit the children who were unable to leave their rooms.

The kids had a blast examining Iron Man’s armor, and Cap’s shield up close. Tony let some of them try on his helmet. That was awe-inspiring enough, but when Jarvis spoke to them they went crazy. Star-struck moms were charmed by Steve playing a guessing game with the kids. He would purposely overestimate how many of them it would take to lift his shield, and then marvel at their strength when they proved him wrong.

There was enough room for Clint to set up a target and coach some of the older kids in archery. He did a good job of guiding each attempt, to make sure they hit the target every time. Even if one managed to go awry, Tony had fitted them with suction cups for tips, so no damage done.

A few of the younger girls were a little shy around all of the men. But they absolutely adored Natasha. They gathered around her, and grilled her about every gadget on her gloves and utility belt. And when Clint made the mistake of teasing her about her little fanclub, Nat gave an impromptu demonstration on how a girl is perfectly capable of flipping an annoying guy onto the ground.

 

When the group was pretty much done with their individual show and tells, Nat stepped to the side to text Bruce. She then made his introduction.

“I know some of you have been asking about the Hulk today. He wanted to be here, but he’s a pretty big guy you know. There are many places where it’s not very comfortable for him to go. He was afraid he might accidentally break some of the equipment if he tried to come here to visit you.”

The children seem to understand that logic.

She continued. “But he sent his oldest and best friend to say hi for him.”

Natasha motioned to her right. Coming toward them was Bruce, holding two large bouquets of Hulk themed helium balloons.

While riding a unicycle.

The children, and the adults for that matter, laughed and clapped as he circled around the cluster of seats, and up to the front where the rest the team stood slack-jawed. He balanced a bit tenuously as he handed Nat the bunches of balloons, and then gracefully hopped off of the unicycle, ending with a small bow.

While Nat and Steve handed out the balloons, Bruce fielded questions about Hulk. There were expected ones, such as “How tall is he?” “What foods does he like?” and “How much does he eat?” It was pretty jovial, until one little girl spoke up.

“Is Hulk lonely because he has to stay by himself so much?”

Tony glanced at Bruce. He could see the nearly imperceptible change in Bruce’s face. Tony’s attuned to reading Bruce now. He doubted anyone else noticed.

Bruce took a breath. “Well,” he began, “Hulk used to be very lonely. He didn’t have any friends for a while.”

A young boy interrupted. “But I thought you were his friend.”

“I am, and I’ve known him for a very long time.” He managed a modest smile. “But we didn’t always get along so well. We sort of fought with each other a lot.” Bruce looked to Tony for some quick reassurance. A wink and nod from his partner did the trick.

Another small voice asked, “Did you guys make up?”

Bruce chuckled lightly. “Yeah. It’s much better now. And that’s why he asks me to do things like this for him. There’s a lot of places he can’t really go.”

“Is that why he gets so angry?”

A sudden flood of emotion coursed through Bruce. He didn’t see which of the children had asked that question, so he turned in the general direction of the voice. He hesitated, trying to gather his thoughts. Yes, they had been sad and lonely and terribly angry for so long. There was a lengthy stretch where the idea of not waking up the next day was more than okay with him. And back then if Bruce could have figured out a way, he wouldn’t be standing here today.

It took an extraordinary man to finally get through to Bruce, and show him that he didn’t have to do it on his own anymore. It was a message he desperately needed, but until now could not, would not believe.

And it’s entirely possible that man might also not be standing here today, if Bruce had been successful in his original endeavor. The thought of a world without Tony Stark made Bruce nauseous. If any of what he had gone through did eventually lead to him playing a part in Tony’s continued existence on this earth, then it was worth it. All of it.

Sensing that Bruce might be spiraling downward, Tony moved in. He delicately nudged him with an armored arm. “Hey Bruce.” he started softly. “Did you forget the question there buddy?” He snickered casually to mask his concern from the audience.

Bruce blinked and sucked in a quick breath, putting his game face back on. “Gee, yeah, I kinda zoned out there for a second. Sorry about that.” Smiling again, he responded thoughtfully. “Hulk used to be sad, when he was all alone. But now he has lots of friends. People care about him. So even times when he’s all by himself, he’s not really alone.”

The group of children nodded with relief knowing that the green behemoth was doing okay.

Tony was relieved that Bruce was doing okay.

Bruce was simply relieved.

 

Later in the evening Bruce and Tony were relaxing on the couch, nursing a couple of drinks. Tony motioned to the now famous unicycle which was currently leaning against the bar.

“So when were you gonna tell me about that thing?”

Bruce shrugged. “Um, today?”

Tony cocked his head. “Where have you been hiding it all this time? And why have you been hiding it all this time? It’s great.”

“I have a few things in a storage unit. To be honest, I forgot about it for a while.”

“A storage unit?” It was a personal affront to Tony. “Bruce, you have a home now. What say we go and clean it out tomorrow, okay?” Tony swirled the ice in his glass then took a swig. “Now, what’s the story? How in the world did you end up with the unicycle?” 

“There’s not much of the story, really. It looked like fun to me, so when I was in high school I built it.” Mirroring Tony, Bruce took a quick sip of his drink. “Took me a while to get the hang of it though. It was hard to find my balance.” He snorted when he noted the correlation. “That seems to be an ongoing theme in my life.”

“You’re doing just fine. You’ve mastered it my friend.” Tony watched Bruce shrug his shoulders and stare into his glass. “Say, maybe you can coach me on the finer points of unicycling. I wouldn’t mind giving it a go.”

That mental image brought the sparkle back into Bruce’s eyes. “Sure, if you want. Just be prepared for a lot of frustration at first.”

“You know who’ll probably be good at it? That monkey Barton.” Tony sounded a touch jealous at the idea of Clint besting him.

“Natasha has excellent balance.” Bruce added. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she could do it.”

“Maybe all of us could learn. We could have our own little act. We might need something to fall back on when this superhero gig runs its course.” Bruce giggled as Tony continued. “Can you imagine Thor pedaling around, cape flapping in the breeze? People would pay good money for that.”

“Okay, okay, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” Bruce always had a good time riding on Tony’s train of thought, but sometimes he needed to apply the brakes.

“I know.” Tony’s smile then dissipated. “But seriously, you did good today. Those kids got a kick out of it.”

Bruce nodded once. “Yeah, it turned out okay I think.”

“And if you’re ever feeling left out, you tell me, okay? Everybody loves you Bruce. They do. We’re still working out the kinks in this whole team thing.”

And Bruce did know this. He’d become a pretty good judge of people. He could tell when someone was interested in him, as opposed to the other guy. “Of course we are. And it really wasn’t a big deal. I mean, we haven’t had very many instances either in the field or in public where I could contribute much. But I think that might change some as we continue to figure this out. I just need to feel that I’m being useful. Not just the other guy. That’s all.”

Tony hated the thought of brilliant Bruce not feeling needed. “You’re just as integral a part of this team as Big Green. If you haven’t felt that way yet, then shame on me and the others for not making it clear.” Tony ducked his head and smiled sweetly. “You’re the biggest reason I’m still hanging around these clowns, if that counts for anything. I consider you my prize for putting up with all of this nonsense.”

Bruce glanced up. “Heh, more like a booby prize.”

Tony eyed him up and down. “Last time I checked you didn’t have those.” That got the other man to crack a grin. “So are we good here?”

Bruce really didn’t have to give it much thought. “Yeah.”

More good than Bruce had had in a very long time.


End file.
